Former President

Michele Nicoletti

"At a time of great and dramatic challenges – from terrorism to migration, from poverty old and new to mistrust in representative institutions, from the re-emergence of racism and xenophobia to the desperate solitude of so many people – we must offer a response to nationalist and chauvinistic temptations to close ranks, to centrifugal pressures and to conflicts by reasserting the need for peace and justice on our continent.

The Heads of State and Government of all Council of Europe member states must reassert on the highest level their commitment to ensuring that the Council of Europe can be the ‘shared home' of all, respecting the equal dignity, integrity and freedom of each member, along with the undertaking by all to remain true to the European Convention on Human Rights along with all the other conventions and to contribute faithfully to the life of the institution.

In performing this task, we must not cease openly denouncing any violation of human rights committed in any part of our continent and by any authority. There cannot and must not be any free zones. However, this defence of human rights will be even stronger if we are able to combine it with an ever increasing unity between our peoples.

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